Master plans fall short of the goal

Famed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham once said, "Make no little plans." Over the years, a number of local dreamers, from private developers to politicians, have made Mr. Burnham's declaration their mantra. That has led to some impressive developments, such as Millennium Park. But some grand plans weren't fully realized or failed completely. Here are a few of them.

Downtown Aurora

The aging river town of Aurora was poised to get a face-lift in the early 1990s with the opening of a riverboat casino. Not only would the Hollywood Casino provide tax revenues for badly needed public improvements, but it would spark tourism downtown, reasoned city fathers.

So in 1992, a year before the riverboat was launched, the Aurora City Council created a master development plan for a 20-block area of downtown, which is built along the Fox River. The plan featured a $40-million, two-level riverwalk fashioned after a popular riverwalk in San Antonio.

The city also envisioned new retail stores, restaurants and condominiums filling the run-down buildings.

But more than a decade later, only a small portion of the Aurora riverwalk has been completed, and many of the downtown buildings are vacant or need repair.

"Some people were . . . expecting the phoenix to rise from the ashes. But development is a slow process," says Karen Christensen, downtown development coordinator for Aurora.

The private developers never came because the tourists never came. Gamblers spend their time in the casino, not downtown.

The city used casino tax revenues to spruce up the downtown. But the Aurora casino, like others in Illinois, is pumping fewer tax dollars into the local economy because of a hefty state tax increase enacted last year to help shore up the budget deficit.

So, Aurora has delayed construction of a $5-million public safety building and a $1-million renovation of an older structure for use as a meeting place for community groups.

One success story is the historic Paramount Theatre, a 1,800-seat venue that has played host to Tony Bennett. The city is spending $5.5 million on renovations.

Prairie Stone

When Sears, Roebuck and Co. decided in 1989 to keep its corporate headquarters in Illinois, it inked what looked like a sweetheart deal: It received $181 million in incentives from the state to buy 786 acres of land in Hoffman Estates, where it would build its new headquarters and develop an office park called Prairie Stone.

Prairie Stone was designed to be a new breed of office park, one that would intersperse tracts of open space between corporate headquarters buildings. And the new Sears headquarters would be a magnet for other companies.

Hoffman Estates sold bonds to raise money. It seemed like a good investment because Sears and its 6,000 corporate jobs would remain in Illinois, and the new office buildings would bring new property taxes to the village.

But 15 years later, half of Prairie Stone is undeveloped, with only a sprinkling of office buildings surrounding Sears' 2.4-million-square-foot headquarters.

Real estate analysts say that the remote location  more than an hour from downtown Chicago  hurts Prairie Stone.

And the project is only a few miles from Kane County, where companies can secure office space and pay almost half of the real estate taxes levied by Cook County, where Hoffman Estates is, analysts say.

Hoffman Estates officials don't have projections for when the site will be fully developed. But area real estate experts say it could take another decade.

"Growth will continue to push out that way," says Steven Hovany, president of Strategy Planning Associates Inc., an urban planning firm based in neighboring Schaumburg.

The slow growth is forcing Sears to make annual payments to Hoffman Estates to cover the shortfall in property tax revenues, money the village needs to cover the rising principal and interest on the bonds. Last year, Sears paid the village about $11 million, and it's expected to pay a similar amount this year.

Peotone Airport

The idea of a third major airport to serve the Chicago area was first floated in 1984. But the proposal really took flight in 1992, when then-Gov. Jim Edgar chose eastern Will County as his preferred site. That location was 4,200 acres of farmland near Peotone, a hamlet of 3,400 people, some 40 miles south of downtown Chicago.

Since then, plans for Peotone Airport have been grounded by politics, grassroots opposition and a lack of money. Mayor Richard M. Daley opposes the idea, preferring expansion at O'Hare International Airport. And residents of Peotone and neighboring communities fear that the massive development would destroy the environment and their rural lifestyle.

Even supporters are at loggerheads. Three separate plans are being developed: one by the Illinois Department of Transportation, another by Will County and a third by the South Suburban Airport Commission, formed by U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson. The Federal Aviation Administration would ultimately decide whether a third airport was needed and which plan was best.

So far, plans submitted by Will County and the South Suburban Airport Commission call for construction of a single runway, a terminal with about five gates and room for expansion. The estimated construction cost is $5 billion to $8 billion.

By far the south suburban commission has been the most aggressive. In September, it lined up two private development companies to finance, construct and operate the proposed airport.

"You've got to make some plans and get some dialogue going to move things forward," says Karl Ray, executive project consultant with one of the development firms, SNC-Lavalin America Inc., based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

But funding is still a major hurdle. Already IDOT has spent $20 million to acquire 1,900 acres for the airport, but the state's tight budget is constraining more purchases. The really big bucks to build Peotone Airport would have to come from Congress, which will also be dealing with budget deficit challenges.